Planned Parenthood Mar Monte awarded academic scholarships on Tuesday to two Soledad women who are pursuing higher education institutions—even though, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, they were among those might likely to drop out of high school.
That's because Wendy Hernandez and Kristina Alcala became pregnant while they were in high school.
Hernandez and Alcala are graduates of Planned Parenthood's Teen Success program, a weekly support group for mothers ages 13-17.
The groups have been meeting weekly for 23 years at churches and community centers in Monterey County, urging girls to maintain their family size at least until finishing their education. They've had a 96-percent success rate when it comes to getting dozens of girls to hold off on having more children.
“Teen Success helped me realize that with [my son's father] or without him, I can do it,” Alcala wrote in her scholarship application. She's now attending Hartnell College and plans to counsel other high school students.
Hernandez transferred from Hartnell to San Jose State, where she's working toward her goal of landing a job in the Monterey County Sheriff's department.
Alcala and Hernandez won $1,000 and $2,000 scholarships, respectively.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.